


let us gather the pack again

by Tobi_Black



Series: Let Us 'verse [48]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Clone Rebellion, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Order 66
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26163043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobi_Black/pseuds/Tobi_Black
Summary: Plo Koon died on Cato Neimoidia. Plo Koon was a thorn in the Empire's side. Plo Koon was a Force Ghost.And all or none of those could be true, and Wolffe didn't know which was, but he knew which one he wanted it to be.
Relationships: 104th Battalion & Plo Koon, Boost & Comet & Sinker (Star Wars), Plo Koon & CC-3636 | Wolffe, Plo Koon & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Let Us 'verse [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1076118
Comments: 35
Kudos: 254





	1. Chapter 1

**9 BBY**

Wolffe had let his men go looking for a dead man, covering up their absences by filling in killed-in-action forms that he quickly got far too good at. He got better at it every year that passed, from the actual deaths to the more common desertion to take Force-Sensitive children into hiding.

Each form telling Ponds the real fate of their _vod_ from what the forms said when he got them before they crossed the Emperor’s desk.

He _hoped_ that they found their _jetii_ – their _buir_ – but he couldn’t carry that hope himself. It was beyond him, because it didn’t matter that he hadn’t seen his body in the crash on Cato Neimoidia, he _knew_ it was impossible for him to walk away alive. He hadn’t given him the dignity of a quick death, even if he’d let him burn in a pyre like he would have wanted, but he’d had _vod_ before and now, die from similar crashes.

Yet. Yet, each day, each week, each month, each _year_ , that Sinker, Boost, and Comet chased leads across the galaxy and never quite found _proof_ that their _jetii_ was _dead_ , the hope grew that maybe, _maybe_ , their _buir_ had survived.

Because they’d checked the crash where he couldn’t, and hadn’t found a body, charred or otherwise. The cockpit had even been relatively intact, enough so that it was possible that the crash had been survived.

They’d searched the area around it, even knowing that it would have been far too late to find any signs, of someone walking away from the crash.

Only, it hadn’t explained why he’d found his lightsaber left behind, discarded like it’d been thrown from the wreckage in the crash. A lightsaber was a Jedi’s _life_.

They had found a hidden facility not _too_ far away the wreckage with the equipment set-up necessary to host a bacta tank that wounded, their _buir_ couldn’t make it there if he knew where to go – and hope had started to take root. The hope had wilted some when they came across a shine dedicated to their _jetii_ , both a memorial and a tribute to all the good that he had done before and during the Wars.

It hadn’t been the only one though. For even despite the Empire vilifying the _jetii_ , some _jetii_ were honored regardless.

Their _jetii_ was one of those.

The hope came back stronger when word of a Kel Dor, aiding and abetting rebels, _helping people_ , started spreading. Wolffe couldn’t help but think it sounded _exactly_ like something his _buir_ would do.

It wavered when Sinker, Boost, and Comet sent back word that there were multiple Kel Dor going around doing this, just like there were multiple Tortuga going around as General Tii. It made it hard to trace which, if any of them, were actually _jetii_.

But ten years on, those stories never quite stopped. They just gained momentum as Inquisitors got dispatched to chase down any _jetii_ ‘impostors’, and Wolffe couldn’t help but think his _buir_ was out there, _alive_.

Only, then some of those stories would have the actions of the Kel Dor be so fantastical, that they should have been dead many times over – and even a _jetii_ couldn’t walk away so many times; Cody’s _jetii_ had proved that there _was_ a point they couldn’t walk away on their own considering how often he’d tested that during the Wars – but _they_ walked away without a wound. Leaving people to whisper that the Kel Door was a _ghost_.

Their General wouldn’t even be the first _jetii_ ghost that had been seen since the rise of the Empire.

General Secura among the Twi’lek rebels on Ryloth.

General Billipa out in the Outer Rim, aiding rebels, and seen on Lothal.

General Tii on Felucia, capturing Vader’s pet project Starkiller.

General Vos clashing again and _again_ with Vader.

General Kenobi on Bellassa, on Christophsis _again_.

General Luminara on Mimban.

General Yoda on Kamino.

There were just too many rumors, too many stories in too many places to know which were true, to know _who_ was alive despite the odds and ‘confirmed’ deaths. Not that it mattered if they were real rumors, they still flocked to those places, to see for themselves if _their jetii_ was one of those _alive_.

Though Cody had had to be sedated before he had an aneurism when he heard about Bellassa, which made him think that his _vod_ knew _exactly_ where _his jetii_ was, and that Bellassa was _not_ that and yet that it _still_ had been the real Kenobi.

Because of that – because if _Kenobi_ was popping out of the ether like the space-cockroach that he was – it also meant there was a _real_ chance that his _buir_ was _alive_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #Which of the rumors is true #Which isn't  
> #X3


	2. Chapter 2

Of all the rumors the Wolffepack – sans Wolffe for the moment – had chased their _jetii_ to, when they’d heard _this_ one, they knew it was either _really_ General Koon or it was a trap.

Then they geared up for a trap and set out for the Abregado system, with Boost very resolutely believing it would _only_ be their _jetii_ that would come out here, and Comet backing him up because only a handful of people knew the emotional significance of this location to the Wolffepack since it had both occurred early in the Wars and wasn’t an important to anyone _but_ them, but Sinker hadn’t been able to let go how that made it the _perfect_ trap.

That coming here was a trap for _them_ , and if they were caught, it would jeopardize their whole revolution since they’d been reported dead by Wolffe and it would reveal how the chips were gone.

Even still, Sinker hadn’t argued to _not_ go, because if it _wasn’t_ a trap, then it was _undoubtedly_ their _jetii_ here. Ten years they’d been looking, ten years they’d been _hoping_ , and so how could they _not_ go.

They just made sure to go in as stealthy as they could, because even if the area itself was nearly unpopulated, and there was little of significance nearby in this sector of space – wrong side of the Core from Coruscant, and just far enough away to the south and west from Corellia, and too north from the Rimma Trade Route for this to be an intentional fly-through for anyone else – it was still _way_ in Imperial Space.

As the haunting light of Anza and the sandy orange-red of Abregado-Rae came into view, they were silent as they caught the first glimpse of the destruction of the _Triumphant,_ and the _Wings of Victory_ , since the _Malevolence_ had destroyed them. They’d never forgotten what it had looked like, the debris of the flagship and its escorts, nor how as they’d lingered there in their escape pod before they’d realized they were being hunted and before Padawan-Commander Tano had found them, they’d seen the countless bodies of their _vode_ drifting around them.

Now they were seeing the true expanse of the debris field, and it was _massive_ , stretching from one side of the viewport to the other, and they could see how parts of it had fallen into orbit around Anza.

Boost started scanning the area for other life-signs while Comet listened for ship-chatter, _just_ in case this was a trap.

Sinker just stared, remembering how this tragedy had shaped the 104th primarily into a battalion for rescue and retrieval and they’d been _good_ at it until the Wars had turned out to be a sham and all the deaths of their _vode_ had meant _nothing_ , and they’d been turned into a hit-squad by the Empire.

It had been ten years since then, and they’d gotten _better_ than good when they were pulled from their hunt to aid Gregor’s squads in retrieving the _jetii’s_ cadets from Inquisitors, or when the Captain sent them in to rescue a captured _vod_.

This felt like Geonosis all over again, the first _real_ test of everything they’d been training for.

Just like then, it felt like a punch in a chest that they needed to recover quickly from or _die_ , when a body of a _vod_ drifted by.

Comet didn’t know if it was better or worse that he didn’t know which of the thousands of _vode_ he’d lost in this battle it was. He wasn’t even sure if they’d had a _name_ yet, but they hadn’t even had the chance to color their armor.

It felt like a _sign_ from the _jetii_ ’s Force when his eyes unconsciously followed one extended arm to see a small ship not far off, with a humanoid shape in mismatched armor painted in _grey_ towing a string of their _vode_ ’s bodies toward the ship

He didn’t realize how his breathe caught in his throat because it didn’t matter that he didn’t _recognize_ that _particular_ pattern, it was familiar in all the ways that _mattered_ ; the Wolffepack’s sigils on their shoulders, their right eye done in Wolffe’s Phase 1 pattern with the teeth of Phase 2, and the pattern of Padawan-Commander Tano’s montrals along the top left.

His gaze brought the others, and he couldn’t have said which of them breathed out, “ _Buir_.”

Because there was only _one_ person who would use those patterns, and would choose to wear armor they didn’t _need_ to for space-walking – because that was a helmet for a non-standard humanoid.

Then they were hailed on an old frequency, and a voice from the past spoke, _“Permission to board?”_


	3. Chapter 3

It had been Fox, who had created the system that was in place for the Commanders to get out of the Empire.

Fox, who had disappeared a week before Order 66, and had been called traitor to the Republic by the then-Chancellor. Wolffe had always thought that was to do with how often he’d left all of his paperwork to Fox, and who knew how many secrets his _vod_ had been privy to before being called a traitor.

Fox, who’d shown up not long after Cody had wiped the Temple’s Archives, who’d stunned Ponds on his way to the barracks coming back from the Emperor’s office with the intention of removing his chip. Fox, who didn’t talk about where he’d been for previous nearly seven months, skinny and twitchy.

It had been _Fives_ – Fives _alive_ – that had told them that Fox had _believed_ him then and there about the chips in their head, because he’d known _so much dirt_ on Palpatine, and had stunned him at a high setting as to fake his death. That it had apparently taken a fair amount of the bacta Fox had been compulsively stock-piling in his hole-in-the-wall office in the lower levels of Coruscant to fix him up again from that shot – because he’d actually died then, to trick Skywalker – and by then, it had been when the war should have been ending, with Grievous the last bastion of the Confederation.

Palpatine had found out that Fox had compiled all of his dirty deeds, and captured him while Fives had gone looking for the missing-in-action Echo, only to find them both in the same place, looking like they’d been put through hell.

Echo still didn’t talk, and Fives had gotten a bit more _violent_ because of it.

Fox, who had survived the ordeal shy a few pieces, had been the one to put together a lot of the system they had for getting all of them out even before the Empire, and just hadn’t told them about it. He’d then gathered up the stock-piled evidence he’d hidden on Coruscant after explaining the system to them, and had left with Fives and Echo, to only periodically contact Cody with _I’m still alive_ and _here’s how to sabotage the Empire from the inside because of this little detail_.

It was actually a little terrifying how well his _vod_ knew the rules and regulations the Empire used and how he could trace the more dangerous projects through tens of thousands of memos and tens of layers encryption.

The specific plan in place for Commanders had two main iterations: for when their _jetii_ came out of the woodwork, so they could desert and go to them without revealing their rebellion, which was significantly harder because they were in important positions, and it required a bit of work to get somebody either sympathetic or another _vod_ as their replacement; or when they were about to be rooted out as a spy and/or traitor.

Wolffe didn’t hesitate to accept his orders to leave for the blockade on Kashyyyk because of it, since it was one of the pre-determined locations set up to _get him out_.

He wanted to _hope_ it was because his _buir_ had come out of the woodwork, but more realistically, it was because he was about to be outed out as a spy. One of the Emperor’s Hands had been sniffing around some of his paperwork recently according to Ponds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #this came to me while at work #I came home from an 8 hour shift after being up since 2:30 am and immediately checked if I had actually SAID Fives was dead #because #what if Fox didn’t kill him #only made it look like it #since PALPATINE WAS RIGHT THERE #because FOX BELIEVED HIM #BECAUSE HE HAD LEARNED A LOT OF PALPATINE’S DIRTY SECRETS IN HIS JOB #and because as such #having chips in their heads made a scary amount of sense about/for some of the things he’d learned
> 
> #I've been wanting to post THIS CHAPTER for over a month but the next chapter gave me so much trouble


	4. Chapter 4

Plo had been a Jedi for many years before Order 66.

He’d never been as attuned to the Unifying Force as some like Master Yoda and young Obi-Wan, but when the Force spoke, he listened. It had saved his life on Cato Neimoidia when he’d dropped away from a poor shot from his troops into a controlled crash-landing.

The Force had urged him to leave behind his ‘saber, so he had, trusting the Force when it whispered that it would come back to him when it was time.

Even if he didn’t understand why his troops had turned on him, he still trusted them – still trusted that Wolffe would find his ‘saber where he left it just outside the wreckage, and would care for it in his absence.

The next ten years he’d followed the Force’s urgings, moving from place to place and helping people where he could.

Thinking over _why_ his men had betrayed him with no warning, no hostile intent, and not quite able to figure it out. Not until he found himself crossing paths with Captain Rex quite by accident, and he’d found out it hadn’t been their choice, there had been chips in their head that had compelled them to follow ‘Order 66’.

Rex had told him the fate of many of his brothers, of how many had tried to subvert the order where they could, some suiciding instead of hurting their Padawan-Commanders, others taking faulty shots that would give their Generals time to escape. He’d told him of how they’d been working to remove the chips from every brother still alive, but some brothers were harder to get to than others. He’d told him of how a number of the Commanders had stayed in the Empire even after the chips had been removed to tear it down from inside.

He’d wanted to ask about his men, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Rex had already told him more than he should, if they wanted to keep this rebellion a secret from the Empire. Asking for names would put his men at risk if they’d chosen to stay in the Empire.

He’d left Rex and wandered a little more, before he found himself returning the Abregado system and finishing what he’d hoped to do when the war had been freshly over and he could take time from the immediate humanitarian work effort, but had never gotten the chance to.

Days, then weeks, he’d worked to gather his fallen men from the debris field so that he finally lay them to rest. Humming a hymn his boys had sung in lament for their brothers marched away like they’d used to when gathering the dead for the pyres they’d make after battles.

Then the Force had suddenly _laughed_ , breathless and _happy_ in his ear, whispering for him to turn and _look_.

Reflex almost had him moving to hide when he saw the ship, because he _did_ have a story for why he was out there, retrieving his men ten years later and it involved scrapping their armor, but he couldn’t do it. Ten years was a long time to run, and a ship that size, there couldn’t be more than ten people on it.

He could just about sense three-

He paused, letting himself drift towards his ship because he _knew_ those three. It had been ten years but he _remembered_ how each of his _ade_ felt in the Force.

Sinker.

Boost.

Comet.

Even if they felt tight, controlled, quiet in the Force.

For a moment, he wondered where Wolffe was, but the answer was right there in how that _wasn’t_ an Imperial ship. The three of them weren’t here on ‘official’ Imperial business, he’d wager Republic credits that they’d defected at some point from their rebellion and came here for unfinished business.

He took a gamble and locked into an old frequency, “Permission to board?”

The three of them promptly all-but-exploded with _hope_ , with _surprise_ , with _happiness_ , as he gently guided the bodies of his men into his ship before pushing himself towards their ship.

It was Boost that answered in the next heartbeat, his voice heavy with a thousand emotions, but most prominent was _is-it-really-you_ , “ _Buir??_ ”

He smiled, “It is good to hear your voice again, Boost.”

There was a scramble on the other side of the comm, then it was Sinker, “ _Ni ceta! Ni ceta, General!_ ”

Plo could practically _feel_ all of the grief and self-hate swirling around his men, as he approached their loading bay, “There’s nothing to forgive. It wasn’t your fault, _ad_.” – Sinker making a wounded punched out noise, before he dropped the comm – “If anything it’s mine, we knew there was something wrong after Tup died but we didn’t move fast enough to prevent all this.”

It opened, and he quickly came inside as he heard the three of them move away from the cockpit, Comet carrying the comm with him, “ _No, we could have fought the order. Appo proved it! Appo proved that we could fight and choose who we shot. He died rather than shoot your cadets._ ”

Rex had said something about that, but to hear his men- his _ade_ \- say that they would have rather _died_ than do whatever it took to survive, it _hurt_. He was rushing through the small ship to meet them, and they had just a moment to see each other before he was wrapping his arms around them and picking them up in a hug, blanketing them in the Force with all of his _love_ and _care_ as they all broke out in tears before sliding to the ground in one massive heap in the hanger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #FOR THE RECORD there IS a REASON why I stopped there #It’s to do with Wolffe and the Emperor’s Hands
> 
> #Let’s play: what Legends character is among the Emperor’s Hands #and then you’ll have an answer

**Author's Note:**

> #I couldn't do it #Plo needed to be reuninted with his boys


End file.
